San Diego actor nabs one of 15 Tony nominations for 'Billy Elliot'

FILE- In this June 15, 2008 file photo, the stars of "Billy Elliot the Musical", from left, Trent Kowalik, Kiril Kulish and David Alvarez arrive at the 62nd Annual Tony Awards in New York. (AP Photo/Peter Kramer, file)
— AP

FILE- In this June 15, 2008 file photo, the stars of "Billy Elliot the Musical", from left, Trent Kowalik, Kiril Kulish and David Alvarez arrive at the 62nd Annual Tony Awards in New York. (AP Photo/Peter Kramer, file)
/ AP

San Diego-bred dancer and actor Kiril Kulish was among a flood of Tony Awards nominees announced yesterday for the hit musical “Billy Elliot,” but the overall Tonys field was lighter than usual on locally connected productions.

“Billy Elliot,” based on the 2000 movie about a ballet-loving boy in hardscrabble English coal country, earned 15 nominations in the annual awards for Broadway theater productions. That was the most of any show, and tied a record set by “The Producers” in 2001.

In a rare twist, Kulish was nominated jointly with the two other young actors who play Billy – David Alvarez and Trent Kowalik – for leading actor in a musical. Among the show's other nods was one for the Tonys' crown jewel, the best-musical prize. “Billy Elliot” will compete with “Next to Normal,” “Rock of Ages” and “Shrek the Musical” for that trophy.

“33 Variations,” Moisés Kaufman's Beethoven-centric play that had a major pre-Broadway staging at La Jolla Playhouse last year, picked up five nominations, including best play and a lead-actress nod for Jane Fonda, who was not in the La Jolla production.

It's up against fellow play nominees “Dividing the Estate,” by the late Horton Foote; Yazmina Reza's “God of Carnage”; and Neil LaBute's “reasons to be pretty.”

Alice Ripley, who plays a suburban mom struggling with mental illness in “Next to Normal,” led the charge for that musical's 11 nominations, second only to “Billy Elliot.”

Two decades ago, Ripley – then known as Alice McMasters – was a familiar presence at Starlight Theatre, the Welk Resorts Theatre and other companies here. She got her major break in 1993 in the Playhouse-spawned Broadway hit “The Who's Tommy.”

The director of that show, former Playhouse artistic director Des McAnuff, is on Broadway with “Guys and Dolls,” nominated for best revival of a musical. McAnuff, now artistic director of Canada's Stratford Festival, was joined among nominees by the show's set designer, UCSD-trained Robert Brill, who came up through San Diego Repertory Theatre, Sledgehammer and other local theaters.

The director of “Next to Normal” is another UCSD graduate: Michael Greif, who took over the Playhouse's top artistic job after McAnuff's first stint ended in 1994. Greif is nominated for best direction of a musical.

There is another San Diego connection in this year's Tony nominations: Bartlett Sher, whose production of “Joe Turner's Come and Gone” by August Wilson earned six nominations, got his start here in the 1980s doing experimental and street theater.

The full list of nominees is at tonyawards.com.

The American Theatre Wing's Tony Awards ceremony takes place June 7 at Radio City Music Hall in New York.